Tag Archives: Italian bread

Ciabatta

Posted on January 21, 2011 | Leave a comment

Originating from the Lake Como region of Italy, this high hydration bread’s characteristic porous texture is unmistakable. When first out of the oven, the crust is hard and firm. As it cools, it softens into a chewy flavorful delight.

For this recipe, I decided to make a striata (long thing baguette) and two slipper loaves. The ingredients called for water, milk, or buttermilk. I happened to have goat’s milk on hand at the time, so that’s what went in. The striati was plain; no fuss no muss. I had fun with the other two! One contained shaved Grana Padano cheese and the other cremini mushroom dressed with black truffle oil.

Outcome? Not as porous as I would have thought, but great crumb. Next time, I will give it a bit of an extra proof before I bake it. The cheese ciabatta had a mild taste with a tangy finish. The cremini black truffle ciabatta was pungent with a distinct and aromatic note. Dipped in EVOO they were delicious!

: Ciabatta and Striati

: Cross section of Cremini and Black Truffle Ciabatta

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Tagged artisan bread, bread baking, ciabatta, European bread, EVOO, goat milk bread, hearth baking, Italian bread, Lake Como bread, panini, slipper bread, striati, The Baker's Apprentice, truffle bread

Panettone

Posted on January 11, 2011 | Leave a comment

A fruitcake by any other name is still a fruitcake. I know, not many of us enjoy the taste or texture of candied fruit. It has been a staple of European cakes and breads for centuries, and panettone isn’t an exception. Originating in Milan as a Christmas bread, it has become popular all over the globe any time of year thanks to Italian immigrants during and after World War II.

I had been wanting to make this for almost a year. My disastrous attempts at starting a seed culture took care of making it! But alas, my barm is bubbly and pungent and now I can continue on my journey.

I followed the recipe fairly religiously except for one thing: flavoring. I have been using Fiori de Sicilia for some time now and very much enjoy the flavor. Be warned: it will take over any other flavorings in your recipe and is very overwhelming. in an average recipe (say for a cake or dessert) I use only three or four drops. It adds that certain something people just can’t put their finger on.

They turned out beautifully in their stiff paper collars. Be careful not to over bake or else they will form a thick, tough crust. This delight is best served with a warm beverage such as coffee or tea.

: Panettone dough ready for a 2 hr proof

: Panettone fresh from the oven

: Sliced panettone

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Tagged barm, bread, bread baking, breakfast ideas, candied fruit, Christmas bread, European bread, Fiori de Sicilia, home hearth baking, Italian bread, Italian desserts, Milan, panettone, sourdough starter, sweet bread, sweet dough

Pugliese

Posted on April 7, 2010 | Leave a comment

Apulia, or Pugliese in English, is the heel off the Italian boot. It is the most productive agricultural plain in all of Italy. And from these plains grows the durum wheat used to make traditional Pugliese. It is a very wet dough, comparable to ciabatta, but slightly more dense.

This is not a quick bread to make. The hour and a half of flouring and folding is time-consuming but without it, it just wouldn’t be Pugliese! I used bread flour exclusively for this recipe as I didn’t have a close source for fancy durum wheat. This bread showed me the necessity for being able to properly make a boule. The softness of the dough makes it want to succumb to gravity more readily than a lesser hydrated dough. I made one in a banneton and the other simply on a floured peel. Interestingly, both turned out the same shape! I baked one of the loaves a bit longer than the other giving it a marvelous deep caramel colour. What I didn’t expect was the crackling that occurred when I took it out of the oven. The crust began to fissure and made quite a pronounced snapping sound! Note that these loaves do indeed soften as they cool. The taste is a nutty soft texture with a chewy crunchy crust. Viva Italia!

: Pugliese

: Pugliese loaf with cracks in the crust

: Pugliese, cut. Notice the dark crumbs from cutting the bread.

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Tagged Apulia, artisan bread, biga, bread baking, bread starter, ciabatta, dough starter, durum wheat, home hearth baking, Italian bread, pre-ferment, Pugliese, rustic bread, wet dough

Stollen

Posted on February 28, 2010 | Leave a comment

When you search for stollen on the web, most sites will tell you it is a German “fruitcake” baked at Christmas time which originated in Dresden around the mid 15th century. First I would like to clarify that this is a sweet bread, not a cake. And though it may, yes I said may, contain candied fruit, it tastes nothing remotely like fruitcake. If anything, it is most closely related to the Italian panettone, also a sweet dough bread. As far as it only being baked during Advent or Christmas, phooey!

Any time an friend or honored guest arrives at a home in western Austrian and in Germany, stollen is served with a hot beverage (almost always coffee). The loaves, with their characteristic 1/3 fold and crust of powdered sugar are always a sign of hospitality. My two favorites are Mohnstollen, made with poppyseed and stollen made with a marzipan center. The poppyseed is not so popular with the American palette and in the States, the marzipan ones are difficult to find.

Back to the fruitcake thing…My very first encounter with stollen while living in Austria was at a friend’s mother’s home. It contained only raisins (soaked in apple schnapps!). It was a simple yet wonderfully tasty treat! I have had stollen made with candied fruit (Zitronat) and have enjoy that flavor as well. So this bread combines my two favorites kinds to make an Ur Stollen!

I used both golden and regular raisins in this recipe. For the maceration, I basically raided the liquor cabinet. I used apricot brandy, triple sec, and the rest of the bottle of limoncello (a scant quarter cup). They took a full 2 days to soak up the blend. The day before making the bread, I also made marzipan. Most grocers stock small tubes of marzipan in the baking section. My recommendation: make your own. It’s much tastier, makes more, and costs about the same. I used Marcona almonds in the recipe which added a unique flavor. Marzipan in Europe contains a larger percentage of almond meal; sometimes up to 75%. I made mine in the same manner.

The recipe makes a whopper of a loaf. I would suggest dividing the dough in two and make separate loaves. If you have a vacuum sealer, these can be frozen for up to 3 months. Simply thaw in the refrigerator overnight and dust lightly with a fresh coat of powdered sugar.

: Large stollen

: Sliced loaf

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Tagged artisan bread, bread baking, breakfast ideas, Christstollen, dresdener stollen, European bread, fruitcake, German bread, home hearth baking, Italian bread, marzipan, Mohnstollen, poppyseed bread, stollen, sweet dough, The Baker's Apprentice, Weihnachtstollen

You say focaccia, I say fougasse

Posted on January 9, 2010 | Leave a comment

This is probably one of the world’s best known and oldest breads with its hallmark dimples and flat oval shape. The name comes from the Latin words panis focacius meaning bread from the center (hearth). It is understandable why this bread is so named since the hearth was the center of the Roman home; and for that matter homes throughout most of human history. It actually predates the Romans having been well documented in Greed and Etruscan society as far back as 700 BC. Most gastronomic historians agree that this is the forerunner of modern-day pizza. Even today focaccia is often made with cheese and various toppings such as cured meats, olives and cheeses. A sweeter versions is made with dried or candied fruits and sprinkled with sugar.

This is also a great example of how food travels. The Ligurian province of Italy (in Tuscany it is made without salt and called schiacciata) lies in the upper west of the country bordering France. In Provence and the Languedoc, this bread is known as fogassa. The farther away from Italy it travels, the more French becomes the name. In Burgundy it is known as foisee or fouaisse while in greater France you can find it by the name fougasse. And down the Iberian peninsula in Spain, they know it as hogaza.

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Tagged artisan bread, baking, bread, bread baking, bread history, flat bread, focaccia, fogassa, foisse, fouaisse, fougasse, french bread, fugassa, hearth baking, hogaza, Italian bread, Liguria, Provence, schiacciata, The Baker's Apprentice

Focaccia

Posted on January 4, 2010 | Leave a comment

Where do I start?!? This was truly a labour of love. First let’s talk abut the poolish. Poolish, by the way, is the type of starter used in this recipe. It was named for the Polish immigrants who brought this pre-ferment to France in the mid nineteenth century. This was made the previous day. So two things that I didn’t like about this recipe: 1) the time it took to make, and 2) the size of the loaf it made.

It took me the better part of the afternoon to make this recipe. The dough was difficult to handle due to the high ratio of water. It was sticky and viscous. The most annoying part of the process was the hour and half of folding before the hour rest, then the makeup followed by a two hour proof. Whew! For the topping I used some tepenade I had made a few days ago though I’m sure whole olives would have made for a better presentation.

As for the size…holy buckets, it’s HUGE! It filled the entire pan and rose about 2 1/2 inches; slightly unwieldy and unless cut before serving, would fill your table. I would suggest making it in two pans.

All said and done, the texture was like silk with large holes and a distinctive taste contributed by the poolish. Simply delicious but I wonder if it would have been so delicious if it took me 3 hrs instead of 8! Don’t worry, I’ll make it again.